January 22, 2013

Last night I started my Sun Run training program. Like everything in my life, it was a frenzied start of me driving in the fog trying to find the community centre and a place to park, racing there with my shoes untied and then trying to slip in to the room in hopes of no one noticing I was 10 minutes late. Sorry!
I learned quickly that I was an ill equipped runner. No one ... Read More …

Well not yet but I hope to be considered a runner by the time I complete the Vancouver Sun Run. Right now I am an athlete and occasional runner. I love playing soccer and try to work out a few times a week on top of my game and practice schedule. For me staying fit has always been important but now it is must. It is a must because I’m not just an athlete I ... Read More …

By Pamela Fayerman
B.C. doctors are making a little less than the national average when it comes to gross, annual, fee for service billings, according to information in the latest National Physician Database.
If you want to be really snoopy (or merely curious) about gross amounts (before overhead costs) paid to specific doctors by the taxpayer-funded system, click here.
The alphabetically arranged Blue Book, as it’s called, covers all those who bill fee for ... Read More …

The buzz is starting to build (again) about Research in Motion’s hoped-for comeback device, the BlackBerry 10.
Among the latest news:
The BlackBerry 10 will be coming to a Wal-Mart near you. Canadian Wal-Mart stores will be taking pre-orders on the new device.
Telus, Rogers and Bell are also taking pre-registrations for the new BlackBerry.
And in the latest updated rumour on what the new models will be like, Telekom-Presse has released a ... Read More …

The B.C. government has identified 16 companies that it says have the expertise to create a new student information system to replace the unpopular and expensive BC enterprise Student Information System (BCeSIS).
If interested, those companies have until Feb. 14 to submit bids, but the Request for Proposals says they will have to prove their financial strength. Proponents should have a minimum of either $100 million in annual revenues or $10 million annual net income ... Read More …

Premier Christy Clark’s former director of communications, Sara MacIntyre, has left the government.
MacIntyre came to B.C. last March, fresh from a job as press secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. She came here not long after the arrival of Ken Boessenkool, Clark’s then chief of staff.
But then came Boessenkool’s abrupt resignation, and last October MacIntyre was moved out of the premier’s office and into the government’s communications arm — Government ... Read More …

I was looking for tsunami debris on a remote B.C. beach and didn’t expect to become embroiled in Port Alberni politics. But an electoral sign washed up on Goose Island, off the central coast, changed all that.
Getting to Goose Island is no easy matter.
It involved driving to Port Hardy on the north end of Vancouver Island, taking the overnight Discovery Coast ferry to Bella Bella, then chartering a boat to take our group ... Read More …

Accused killer and United Nations gangster Michael Newman claimed in B.C. Supreme Court Tuesday that he took two guns used to murder Marc Rozen in 2004 because he knew they could help him find “the real killers.”
Newman said during cross-examination that he had nothing to do with the beating, stabbing and shooting of Rozen, who had advertised an $18,000 engagement ring for sale in the classifieds.
Newman claimed to Justice William Ehrcke that he ... Read More …

There are times when modern soccer seems less like a sport and more like a sophisticated Performance Art project designed to expose the flaws of an unrestricted capitalist system.
Over in Europe there is a spate of billionaire owners taking over clubs and firing managers on the merest whim, supporters becoming increasingly appalled at the high price of attending a game and those same supporters being fined or removed from the stadium for raising banners ... Read More …

“Oprah (Winfrey) picked and planned, tasted and touched, sniffed and snuggled her way through hundreds of items to determine her favorite things.” That was the intro to the 2012 collection of “Favourite Things” in O,The Oprah Magazine and on Oprah.com last year.
And as usual, her annual round-up of favorite things and gift guides included a little love for foodies. If she personally tasted each edible favourite or gift idea, when it began on in ... Read More …

I’m taking the Sun Run 2013 In Training program. I will be following the Run Faster plan (I want to run the 10km under 48 minutes) with a small group of friends. The twist is that we live in Fort Nelson and will be following the plan on our own.
I have been running for a while now and running outside during the winter months in Fort Nelson is something that I typically try to ... Read More …

In an effort to help the planet, my challenge this month is to walk for all trips I do that are less than five kilometres. This means no cars, cabs or even public transit for trips that take an hour or less by foot. Here are five observations from the first 20 days of the challenge.
A Marathon in 8 Days
For me, a five kilometre run is an achievement. I’ve always found that longer ... Read More …

I love making my own bacon, sausage and specialty hams. And once you get started you’ll realize how amazing it is to customize all your cured meats to your own taste and to try to recreate rustic hard-to-find delicacies such as tasso ham. Save on Meats is running a series of classes that will get you started with hands on instruction. You need not be afraid.
The $75 price tag for these classes is worth ... Read More …